Harry Potter: Paranormal Investigator
by Ebony Scales
Summary: Harry has settled into his comfortable life away from all of the craziness of fame. However, amid the normality of solving cases for the many clients he gets, one dangerous case stands out as something he has never encountered before. What is behind it, and what can Harry do in order to save both himself and those around him?
1. A Boring Case

Well, a new story that I simply could not get out of my head! Hope you like it! (No story suggestions for this one. I'm pretty sure I'm using them all up on my other story.)

Also, consider this a late Valentine's Day gift to you all. Hope you had a good day!

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**Harry Potter: Paranormal Investigator**

**Chapter 1: A Boring Case**

A rather young man walked slowly around the darkened house, passing a critical eye over each room. There wasn't a ton of light around, but that didn't give the man any difficulty as he passed through the house. This particular house wasn't very old, although the decoration used inside certainly tried to give an old feel to the house, with high-backed chairs and large landscape paintings. Still, the house was completely silent but for the normal creaks that one would expect in a house. It was very late in the night, and there was no other person inside the house, as the owners had taken their family to another family member's house. The lack of distractions helped the young man finish up his admittedly short investigation. A horrible squeaky scratch against one of the windows in the previous room caught the attention of the lone figure roaming the house, and brought him in a fast walk. A short once-over of the offending window, and the man turned away with an annoyed huff.

With one last walk through of the house, the young man had finally found what he was looking for and left, locking the front door behind him.

…

The next morning, while fighting the effects of a lack of sleep, the young man met with a small family. The tense and disbelieving faces of the adults in the group indicated the level of stress they were dealing with. It didn't help that they weren't satisfied, but that certainly didn't mean that the investigator wouldn't get paid.

"I promise there is nothing in your house. My priority in any investigation is to make sure that the events are truly in the realm of the paranormal. I felt nothing out of the ordinary in your house. In fact, I found some answers to the concerns that you were having. My tools indicated that there is a high electromagnetic field inside your home. The best thing that I can suggest is that you look into updating your appliances or have the wiring in your house checked out by a professional. These fields can cause feelings of discomfort, paranoia, and even hallucinations. They actually can be bad for your health, even if the only consequence is the stress caused by the effects."

"So, the sounds that we are all hearing are supposed to be hallucinations?" The disbelief and the frustration in the mother's voice made him feel slightly sympathetic for how the experience must be affecting the family. Still, there was absolutely nothing in their house, he was sure.

"Ma'am, creaking sounds are normal to hear in a house. It could be anything from the water pipes, the wind outside, or even mice. Also, the scratching that you've reported from the outside of your house? There is a tree that's growing very close to one of the windows. Any time the wind is blowing, one of its branches can easily scratch against the window. I suggest you trim the branches that are too close to your house," he responded easily, trying to be patient with a troubled, but jumpy family.

"Thank you, Mr. Potter. We appreciate the time you've put into this investigation." The father of the family, a Mr. Felix Krull, was and always had been the most unbelieving of any possible paranormal activity, although he, too, had reported some odd experiences. It wasn't surprising that he would be the first to accept the explanation, as he had rather been against hiring an investigator to begin with. It didn't help that the price to do so was rather high.

Harry began walking back to his car, half listening in to the argument between the parents over what was and was not a hallucination. It was sometimes hard for him to not roll his eyes when people talked about shadow figures in their houses, considering any shadow of pretty much any ordinary object could look like a 'shadow creature' in the dark, so he was somewhat glad that he had decided to leave.

It wasn't that muggles _couldn't_ see most ghosts, it was simply more difficult for them. A lot of the times that they actually saw ghosts only occurred because the ghost _wanted _them to see.

By the time Harry had made it home, he was nearly falling asleep at the wheel. He took a moment, after depositing his keys on a table, to decide whether to take something and try to get some more work done, or just head back to bed and get a late start. A call on the phone from Hermione to meet for lunch made the decision for him, and soon after he was getting back into his car, freshly changed into more comfortable clothing.

When Harry made it to the restaurant, it was to find that Hermione and Ron were already there, with Ron looking distinctly uncomfortable.

"Hey Hermione, Ron. How are you two doing?" he asked with a smile.

"Fine," Ron responded before glancing around him. "Why do you guys always insist on eating in places like this, though?" he asked.

Hermione looked at him sardonically and responded.

"It's only a sandwich shop, and you should be certainly be used to them by now." A raised eyebrow caused Ron to smile and roll his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. It's still more your guys' scene. We could've gone to the pub instead," he lightly complained. Hermione simply smiled and shook her head before turning back to Harry.

"How is work going?" she asked, more interested in distracting Ron than anything else.

"It's going fine. Honestly, it's not exactly often that I actually have to deal with anything even remotely serious. Also, it certainly pays rather well." Ron sniggered, and Hermione sent him a glare.

"I'm sure that, for anyone without magic and an understanding of ghosts, even a friendly ghost would be terrifying," she said, feeling sympathy for the fear that some families had to deal with when they had a ghost or a ghoul infestation.

"I mostly appreciate that I can help them out a bit, and not see tons of stories about my 'heroism' in the papers," Harry responded with a roll of his eyes. "Although, I do get called a charlatan rather often." Ron outright laughed at that, and this time Hermione only rolled her eyes.

"You know, it's possible that many people who say they can get rid of ghosts _are _charlatans," Hermione said once Ron had calmed himself. "I doubt many actual wizards decide to dedicate their life to ridding non-magical families of paranormal problems."

Harry laughed. "Too true." He couldn't help but think how nice it was to get the Trio together when they had the time for it. "How are _your_ jobs going?"

"Well, you know. Ron comes home late every night, and I still can't usually beat him there." Hermione looked at her husband with exasperation born of love. The two still had their spats, but it was never quite as bad as it had been in school.

"She's currently teaching the little brats how to transfigure animated objects. I still can't believe the stories she brings back. How can the little buggers get these things so wrong?" Ron smiled laughingly at his wife while she tried to defend her students' abilities.

"You were never all that proficient at Transfiguration either, Ronald," she reminded him, sounding remarkably like a professor disappointed in her student. A chuckle escaped Harry as he watched the interaction of his two best friends. Sometimes he wished he could have that closeness with someone, but it never seemed to work out well for him. Not with his fame.

After all of the food was finally consumed with ample help from the red-headed Auror, Harry sat back in his seat and considered the time.

"Well, guys, I need to get back home. It was great to see you both, but I need to check my email for any new cases, and then pass out!"

"You still doing all-nighters, then?" asked Ron. Harry nodded.

"Of course. It's the best time to make sure that no one stops by to 'check things out' while I'm using methods that they can't know about." Not only that, but it was rather expected of him to work at night. It kept the 'mystery' of everything.

"Well, that's nothing," Ron boasted. "I've had to stay up for two whole days while trailing a suspect!" Hermione just shook her head.

"Oh Ron, don't exaggerate. It wasn't two days. And I'm almost sure you weren't trailing anyone. You said you were staking out a 'suspicious building' or room, or something," Hermione lightly disagreed.

"It was two days! But, yeah, it was a stake-out, now that I think about it. Place was right creepy, it was," he responded. Harry laughed and got up, making sure to grab the check as he did. Ron scowled a little and Hermione rolled her eyes at Harry while he stuck out his tongue at the two of them and took the check to the counter in order to pay. They should have been used to it by now, especially since he was the one with a credit card.

Soon enough, Harry was back home and sitting at his desk while skimming through his emails. Scattered over his desk in a somewhat messy manner were a number of books covering any subject imaginable concerning ghosts, ghouls, boggarts, and poltergeists. Not all of the books were strictly from the magical world, but the most well-worn ones generally were. The computer screen shined on Harry's face brightly in the dimly lit room, hurting his eyes a bit. There were only a few emails that had anything to do with his chosen profession. None were too promising, so he decided to wait until tomorrow to figure out which one he'd give his time to. He was too tired to try to make a decision now, anyway.

Soon enough, he was cozy in bed and heading toward pleasant slumber.

…

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How do you guys feel about this story so far? Let me know!

I have a general outline of where I might like to take this one, but it is not entirely set in stone yet. Still, the next few chapters are already laid out, and one is finished, though I won't post it right away so I have time to change some things if I want.


	2. A Normal Day

Another chapter, while I should probably be working on Otwsos. Oh well. I can't promise that the chapters will as long as I sometimes prefer to write them in other stories, but I hope you guys won't mind that.

**Harry Potter: Paranormal Investigator**

**Chapter 2: A Normal Day**

Harry was once more sitting at his desk, attempting to look through photos that a few people had sent him. None of them were all that interesting, to be truthful, and some were what he called 'repeat customers' who either continued to contact him because they wanted to be able to brag to their friends or because they hadn't believed him the first few times that he had assured them that there were no problems. He was able to weed out a few potential cases simply from the previous experiences with the families. He sighed as he went through the remaining pictures while wondering why they were always sent along.

Most pictures that he received contained pictures of the houses themselves sitting in broad daylight and usually without an ounce of creepiness evident in the picture. Although, pictures honestly didn't help the man choose his next project, anyway. There was nothing to gleam from the pictures beside some information about the family itself. In fact, Harry often had to travel to each individual place in order to help him make a decision, which is where the ability to apparate became rather useful. He based his decision on the level of panic of the family as well as the feeling he got when actually seeing their house. Obviously, he'd try to choose a house with an actual problem over an overreacting family, though sometimes it was difficult to tell which was which.

Sometimes, even when at the site, there was no ghost or ghoul or anything else in his expertise and instead a cursed object. During those cases, he'd had to call in the 'experts', which was really just a division of the Aurors, but the muggles didn't know that. He always had one specific wizard come in to take care of those places, mostly because he could be trusted to act and dress 'normal' in front of the clients; that, and he was well versed in many of the magics that could be used on cursed objects. Harry never had reason to call in Ron, since the youngest male Weasley had focused his career on, as he put it, 'catching the bad guys'.

Harry sat back in his comfortable desk chair and rubbed his aching eyes. He couldn't stand any more pictures or emails, so he decided to go ahead and visit the areas. He had the addresses, so all he needed to do was find the closest area that he could apparate to for each of them, and then get some muggle transportation to finish the journey. Two of the next potential cases were in Cornwall, so he figured that he'd check both of them out first. One was actually quite close to the Jamaica Inn, which really was haunted. Though, since the ghost in the inn didn't hurt anyone and actually helped the business a bit by bringing in tourists, Harry was never called in to take care of the ghost there.

Harry decided to apparate over to the Jamaica Inn and walk from there. After a quick check of his computer to look up the last address and figure out where he'd end up apparating for that potential case, Harry was gone.

Built in 1750, the Jamaica Inn had the kind of history to inspire both stories and movies for its past and present. Once used by smugglers as a stopping point to store rum, it now housed a number of guests who wanted a chance of experiencing the paranormal. The inn was L-shaped and was a dark grey color from the stone it was built with. It had picnic tables out front with the sign of a bar to encourage passersby to stop, and also advertised a museum of smuggling on the outer wall closest to the road. Harry assumed that it was likely that the nearby family had contacted him in hopes of attracting the tourists that travelled to the area to their own 'haunted' house.

The walk down two different roads didn't take Harry too long, and soon he stood by a mossy knee-high rock wall, looking at a cozy one-story home. The large stone house that he had passed earlier certainly looked more stately and interesting, but this small home seemed like it had more privacy from outsiders, especially with its veritable wall of tall evergreens hiding it from the neighbors.

In broad daylight, it looked like a simple, cozy building that likely housed a close family. Harry looked down at the papers that he had brought along to check the reported happenings. Flickering lights, shadowy figures, and mysterious sounds summed up the happenings. It wasn't very promising. Unfortunately, there wasn't really a single spell to test for paranormal beings. In fact, the spell that _could _test for poltergeists, and nothing else, was terribly unreliable. However, most otherworldly beings did have a presence that could be felt if you were close enough and sensitive to the energy. From the road, Harry wasn't reliably close to the house to be able to feel it, and he wasn't going to risk getting caught simply to get closer. With the information he had, he felt fairly assured that this house wasn't one he needed to spend time on.

With that, Harry started walking back to the inn while taking out a phone and calling a cab. He planned on stopping at the bar and grabbing a bite to eat before heading to his next potential case.

Just under an hour later, Harry stepped out of a car and passed some cash to the driver before turning to inspect the next house. The cab driver drove off after counting through the money, likely much too used to getting stiffed. In front of Harry was a long line of houses squished together in a way that certainly felt crowded. Each house flowed into the one next to it, with the change in colors between each separate one and many fences the only indication that it wasn't simply one incredibly long house. The specific one Harry was looking for was a speckled browning grey, snuggled between a dull grey house and a darker beige one. This house was the only one around that sported a wooden fence. The fence was obviously rather old and was dwarfed by overgrowth from within the tiny yard. The roof of the house's section was older as well, not giving Harry much faith in the integrity of the building.

Harry glanced down at his papers for the case and was pleasantly surprised. Instead of the usual red flags for a fake case, there were more detailed and certainly more interesting happenings on the property, with even some complaints from neighbors. The resident reported soft whispers that made him and any guests uneasy and even interrupted sleep. There were complaints about this same thing from the surrounding houses, with the neighbors laying blame on the single older man living in the somewhat rundown house. It seemed that the community was rather small in Summercourt, and many agreed that the old man was losing his wits. Other complaints included constant migraines only when in a certain room and smoke coming from nowhere. Even if Harry didn't choose this as his next case, he'd likely come back to it.

Walking quickly away, Harry soon found a spot from which he could apparate closer to the last home he was going to take a look at. He arrived in Paignton in Tor Bay, which had a decent sized population. It was on the coast, so there was a nice breeze that constantly carried in the fresh smell of the Celtic Sea. He had apparated just beyond the gate of a house that had a high wall and many trees hiding it from nosy neighbors. It was a chance that he probably shouldn't have taken, but no one was around at this time to notice him. Most likely, people wouldn't be around for a few hours yet when they got off of work. Harry had to jump the black metal gate to get out, but it was worth it to have gotten so close to the next house. He'd be able to walk from here, and it wouldn't take more than ten minutes.

The house on the other side of the street, which had some palm trees and a rock garden, was one that he had checked out before. They had paid quite well for him to get rid of the boggart living in their cupboard. He'd explained it as some evil creature that only liked to scare people, which was about as close to the truth as he could give them. A bit of walking and a few turns found Harry at the correct address: the final one that he'd have to check out today.

It was a duplex, from what he could see. He was there to check out the left side, which was a somewhat drab grey-ish color with sizeable windows. Harry looked down to look over the papers one last time and snorted. This one would be a bust as well. The most interesting thing that they complained about was footsteps; being connected so closely to another family's home made that far too normal a noise. With no gut feeling or sense of magic warning him to check it out further, he gave up on this one quickly. With a furtive glance around him, he apparated home in order to contact the older gentleman living in Summercourt. It was an easy decision to make.

_Dear Sir,_

_I am contacting you in order to let you know that I have seen your submission, and will be setting time aside to look into your situation. Rest assured that I will do my absolute best to make sure that your house is once more returned to the haven that it should be…_

…

…

…

Hope you're enjoying it so far!


	3. Another Day, Another Job Well Done?

I am dedicating this chapter to **Sapphire Immortal **for their part in getting me to finish up this chapter and post it**. Thank you!**

Now, let's see what this case has in store for us!

...

**Harry Potter: Paranormal Investigator**

**Chapter 3: Another Day, Another Job Well Done?**

Harry popped into existence a few blocks from his destination, and began walking over. It was early evening, and the sun was just enough to keep him comfortably warm for his short walk. It was finally time to actually meet the elderly owner of the house that was his next case, and Harry would be arriving exactly on time as usual. It paid to be punctual, especially when such a small thing was able to build the client's trust for a stranger that would be spending a night in their house. There was still time for the homeowner to cancel, but it wasn't likely, especially since it often took a lot to get people who had a true paranormal problem to actually call it in.

Harry made it to the front door and walked up to announce his arrival. He rang the doorbell and turned away to inspect the rest of the street. It was more to seem less intense than it was to actually check anything out; he couldn't count the number of times that clients had answered the door and actually jumped back in surprise when seeing him staring back at them. He'd been told repeatedly that his eyes were an unusually bright shade of green. How that startled them, he was never quite sure.

The wizard eventually heard the slow, deliberate footsteps of the owner coming toward the door and, with a brief squeaky sound of a bolt being unlocked, the door was finally opened. Harry turned with a gentle smile on his face and his hand extended in order to introduce himself.

"Good evening, sir. I am Harry Potter, the Paranormal Investigator that you contacted about some strange happenings around your home. May I come in?"

The older man nodded and stepped aside with a gesture to guide Harry to the living room. Once they were both seated and the resident had regained his wheezing breath, they were able to discuss the situation as well as the contract. Harry never really liked using contracts, but in the Muggle World, it was quite necessary, especially to help the homeowners feel more secure about letting the investigator work in their home. Once the papers were signed, Harry stood and helped the man named Charles Blufton to his feet.

"Could you give me a tour of the house and let me know what happens and where?" The man nodded and led the way for a very short tour of his small house.

"I can hear the whispers at night all through the place, no matter where I am. But, I have all of the worst feelings in here…" He trailed off and let Harry get a look into the room in front of him. It was a small bedroom area that had been turned into a slightly cramped office. Boxes littered the floor next to the desk, full to the brim of random knickknacks and papers. Nothing obviously stood out as not belonging, but there _was_ a feeling of discomfort: a sense of unease with the surroundings that had no discernible source. Harry nodded to himself: this was almost definitely the room.

The short tour concluded in the kitchen, and then Mr. Blufton retrieved his light coat for his night stay with his son in another part of the city. He wouldn't be gone long, but Harry knew that the investigation wouldn't likely even require the full night in order to take care of things. Once the man had driven away, Harry got right to work and headed back in to the converted bedroom. He could feel the hairs on his arm raise at the feel of dark magic. One detection spell later and Harry was prowling the room, looking inside every door and dresser. When the detection spell for beings came back with nothing, Harry knew that this case wouldn't be as relatively easy as he was used to. Either whatever it was could hide itself from detection, or it wasn't sentient. Harry might have to search the entire room to come up with the answer.

The search took unfortunately long with the all of the clutter that was in the room, but a bit of magic to keep pointing him in the right direction and three hours found Harry picking up what looked like an old and dirty children's toy with long tongs, too wary and experienced to touch the thing with bare skin. This little thing, packed away in one of the many boxes and likely long forgotten, was the most likely culprit of any unease and strange happenings around the house; his skin was nearly tingling in discomfort for simply being so near the thing. Another few detection spells told Harry that there was nothing inhabiting the toy, so it was likely cursed. Unfortunately, that would mean that he would have to call in a curse expert to dispel it, since Harry didn't have the experience doing so himself. He'd tried it before, and ended up in Saint Mungos for his trouble. Obviously, he'd learned better since then. He would contact a man that Ron had suggested to him years ago who also worked in the Auror Corp. although in a different department. The curse wouldn't be able to be taken care of until the next evening, due to the man's work hours, but it would be a relatively easy thing to get him to come out. With hope, the curse itself would be just as easy to take care of.

Harry took a moment to secure the toy under a glass case, mostly in order to make sure the owner didn't accidentally touch the thing. The Paranormal Investigator had no clue what kind of curse might be on the tin toy, but he had no desire for anyone to end up finding out the hard way. After placing the cursed thing under a glass protector out of the way, he sat down to write a note to the owner, knowing from past experience that a phone call at this time of night was not always well-received. He wouldn't be taking the toy with him, mostly out of reluctance to face the chance that someone would accuse him of stealing. With his note finished and placed where it would be easily noticed, Harry took one more stroll through the house to check for any other problems before packing up his belongings and leaving, locking the home up behind him. He'd call in the expert first thing tomorrow on the floo and set up a time to meet after the workday was over. He also made a mental note to call the owner around mid-day to make sure they were good to go for the evening.

Soon, Harry was walking in through his own door and collapsing on his bed into well-deserved rest.

…

Harry woke up the next day in the late morning. He felt slightly bleary, but knew a bit of caffeine would fix him up. A check of the time after he had a small breakfast made him hurry over to the floo. Edison, his expert on curses, would likely be taking his lunch break soon, and Harry really needed to catch him before he left the office. He wouldn't be able to confirm a time with the new client until he spoke to the curse expert. A quick floo call settled a good meeting time, and then Harry moved on to make the call to Mr. Blufton.

His assumption that the older man had already returned home was proved correct when the phone was answered. Harry had to field a few questions about what he had done about the problem, and then about any change in pricing when he told the man that he'd need to call in an expert to finish taking care of the issue. Once the questions were answered satisfactorily, the home owner agreed to meet the expert later in the evening, and hung up. Harry had the rest of the day free until the meeting to look at other potential cases. It was with a bit of reluctance that he started browsing through his emails once more and planning his afternoon trip to various houses around England to decide on the next case.

One email from his last case nearly made him roll his eyes. Some people were simply impossible to convince. He'd leave it until later, when other potentially more dangerous cases were scouted. He had more important things to do than try to placate a couple people who were sure that he must be wrong about the cause of their anxiety.

With that decided, Harry wrote down any notes that he might need when he visited the next few houses. Finally, he wearily pushed himself from his desk and got himself ready to visit one or two of the potential sites. He doubted whether he'd have time to pay a visit to all of them before it was time to meet his curse expert at Mr. Blufton's house, but getting anywhere with checking off his To-Do list was better than doing nothing with the time he had.

When the time came around for Harry to meet his client again along with Edison from the Auror Force, he had only just finished looking at two potential places for his next case, neither of which was too terribly promising, but at least one had potential. The paranormal investigator was used to getting requests from businesses wanting to cash in on the wow factor of having been investigated for the paranormal. Thus, most similar requests were easy to throw out. However, for once it seemed a business located in an area of actual haunting had messaged him with fair accountings of various happenings. It didn't seem too bad, just occasionally startling, so Harry knew he'd need to look at other potentials before getting back to the small Hotel that had contacted him from Lincolnshire.

A low pop sounded, signaling Harry's exit as he apparated back to Summercourt.

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I want to thank everyone for their patience in waiting for me to get my butt in gear and write. It's been difficult to get it done lately, with life intruding all too often.


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